Corvette enthusiasts know there is no shortage of products to which the sports car has lent its name. All kinds of toys, collectibles, and specialty items have used Corvettes as a theme, especially for products created by other iconic American brands. In 1999, for instance, toy designer Lionel partnered with General Motors to sell Corvette-themed train sets like this one. Donated to the National Corvette Museum by George Biederman, the set includes a locomotive, two flatbed cars, four die-cast Corvettes, and a caboose. This train is an O scale set, meaning the rolling stock is about 1:48 scale compared to a real train.
The set, called the Corvette Transport GP7, is a celebration of the Corvette’s famous styling. The locomotive is red with a white cove and includes the Corvette crossed flags beneath the windows on the cab. Even the engine itself, the GP7, is a type of diesel-electric locomotive built from 1949 to 1954 by GM’s Electro-Motive Division. The four die-cast Corvettes include a Polo White 1953 and Gypsy Red 1955, both from the first generation. Also along for the ride are a Torch Red 1997 and an Arctic White 1998 Corvette, representing the fifth-generation contemporary to the train set. The locomotive includes light and sound features, and the interior of the caboose even lights up as the train runs.
Although the Corvette has enjoyed a lengthy production run, Lionel’s history of creating model trains is even longer. The present company traces its roots to 1900. By the 1920s, the original Lionel Corporation had become the American industry leader in producing toy trains. Lionel also encouraged department stores to make model trains part of their Christmas displays, which fostered the relationship between the holiday and train sets. Facing mounting financial difficulties by the late 1960s, the corporation began leasing the Lionel brand to another manufacturing company to produce the toy trains. The owner of the brand has changed several times since then, but the current version of Lionel continues to be a popular producer of model trains today.
